Bleeding Out
by elpiyagrace
Summary: Something no woman can escape.


Pain.

It was the first thing she registered when she woke up in the tiny boat floating in the middle of East Blue. Pain, and the overpowering need to bash someone's face in – literally, with her fists.

She groaned, straightening up from her the awkward position she had fallen asleep in, dimly aware of the gnawing ache on her neck. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, absent-mindedly scratching her lower back when she felt it – subtly mingling with the insistent pain she's feeling.

Her eyes widened in realization, recognizing the unmistakable sensation of wetness down there.

"Oh dear God, no." she muttered in horror. On instinct, she started to stand up and the abrupt movement made the small boat rock dangerously. She froze midway and glanced at the two figures snoring away by her feet. The black-haired boy responded to the wobbling, throwing his arm over the side of the boat whilst mumbling in his sleep. The green-haired man beside him just continued his loud snoring and Nami resisted the urge to bring her heels down on his neck in annoyance.

She sat down again. "Breathe Nami breathe", she patted her chest trying her best to calm down, "It may not even be that."

Well what else could it be? The irritated voice of her subconscious mind snarled at her. You freakin peed in your sleep or something?

She groaned. She had taken stock of their supplies last night and she was sure they don't have a single one of those in stock. She felt like slapping herself because in all the excitement in the last island – dealing with Buggy and his cronies – she had forgotten that her time of the month was silently dangerously near.

She slapped herself for real then looked at the two boys in alarm, worried that the sound had woke them up. They didn't even twitch. Calm down dammit, she whispered to herself. She needed to make sure.

Trying her best to ignore the throbbing pain, she slowly stood up and peeked at her seat.

Red.

She saw vibrant red. She felt the blood drain from her face.

* * *

Their reactions to her scream were immediate. Zoro suddenly sat up, one of his swords already halfway out of its sheathe, mumbling incoherently. Luffy followed suit, shooting up awkwardly to his feet, blearily spinning around. "Enemies? Meat?!" he gasped, making the boat rock precariously.

Nami punched him. "Keep still you idiot!" Falling into the water would be the last thing she needed right now.

Luffy plops down next to a disgruntled swordsman who was grumpily glaring at the navigator. "Whats the big idea screaming so early in the morning!? Some people are trying to-!" he gulped midsentence, narrowly dodging the oar aimed at his face. Luffy wasn't as fast though.

Nami couldn't help but enjoy the comical look of shock on Zoro's face that lasted a few seconds after his captain disappeared with a splash. "Luffy!" he dived after his captain.

Good that's good, she thought darkly, they both need a bath anyway. She winced at the pain and remembered that she was still sitting on a pool of her blood. She cursed. Damn them late painful ones.

By the time Zoro broke the surface, Luffy hooked n his arm, Nami had finished wiping her seat and was currently sitting on a small stack of rags. It was the best she could come up with at the moment. He pushed his captain aboard and hauled himself soon after.

Luffy coughed up water at her feet. "That wasn't fun at all", he complained, "I'm hungry." She gave luffy a deadpanned look then her eyes fell on her light-orange skirt and she froze. There was no way that the red can't be noticed against that color.

"What the hell were you thinking witch?" Zoro took of his shirt and wrung the water out of it. He glanced at her, "Oi oi, are you even listening?"

"Ne ne Nami, I'm hungry." Luffy finally gained enough strength to sit up. "Can I have some of those – whoa!" Zoro shoved his head down, saving him from another dip in the ocean.

Nami slowly looked up from her light-colored skirt and gave the boys a shadowed cold stare. Luffy and Zoro visibly flinched. The menacing aura emanating from the girl made their hairs stand on end and the (world's) future pirate king and future greatest swordsman unconsciously backed away from the murderous woman.

"What the hell." Zoro muttered nervously. He wasn't scared of her dammit. Beside him, Luffy gulped, forgetting his growling stomach. "N-Nami?"

Without warning, she swung the paddle at them again and Zoro's hand shot out to intercept it but it stopped inches from his hand.

"Row." Came the icy order.

"Row?" Luffy hesitantly accepted the oar. "But there aren't any islands in sight."

"There won't be any islands in sight if you guys don't start rowing." She snapped. She took a deep breathe to calm herself and continued in a forced even tone, " If you guys start rowing now we can get to the nearest island before nightfall."

And by then, I'de have bled over the entire boat and you will all be swimming in my blood. Nami inwardly cringed at the thought as she kept her steely gaze on the pair.

"Are you really sure we really need to row?" Zoro asked and no, he did not ask it meekly. "Last night, you said we have enough provisions three days at least."* His voice was slowly growing fainter after each word as Nami glared daggers at him.

"Start rowing." She snarled and the boys jumped, scrambling to do their work. Both not fully understanding why the navigator was so enraged. Both of them too sca – intimidated! – not scared, but too intimidated to ask what was wrong.

After all, Zoro decided, the sooner her reached land, the sooner he'd get more booze. Meanwhile Luffy determinedly pushed and pulled at his oar. Land means food and food means meat.

Nami suddenly let out a small gasp of pain subtly hunching over to ease it. They both looked up at her, expressions either concerned or suspicious.

"What the hell are you looking at?"

They hurriedly resumed rowing, but not before silently glancing at each other. Both agreed that following the order was currently the safest option to take.

* * *

"Oi Nami, are you sure you don't want to come to town with us?" Luffy's voice broke through her thoughts. She had refused to budge from her seat after their boat touched land.

Beside Luffy, Zoro stared at the navigator suspiciously. First she wakes them up screaming, next she hits Luffy overboard with a paddle, then she makes them row non-stop towards land under the half-heartedly-veiled threat of humiliating and excruciating death. And now that they've reached their destination. She wouldn't move an inch from her sear, much less leave the freakin boat. For all they know, the woman would just suddenly ditch them and make off with their boat and provisions the moment they got out of her sight.

Nami, though slightly touched at Luffy's concern, glared at the straw hat wearing boy. "Yes yes, I'm sure. There's something I need to do. You guys go ahead and I'll catch up."

It's been six hours since they've started rowing and yes they have reached land earlier than she expected, who knows why? Six hours of tense silence, confused glances (from Luffy) and suspicious pointed looks (from Zoro). Six hours of much enduring on her part to not let them notice her current state, trying her best not to hunch over in pain while she spilled her blood secretly right in front of them. She was very careful not to sit too heavily for fear of squeezing the soaked rags through the seat.

"Why don't you wanna come with us?" Zoro's voice broke through her thoughts. "Are you hiding something?"

Nami growled. Obviously! She snarled inwardly. Why the hell won't they just leave her alone? She gave him the sweetest, most venomous smile she could muster and she enjoyed the look of terror descend on his face. "If you guys don't disappear for the next ten seconds, I will be hiding two battered, unrecognizable corpses five feet under the ground in the sands of these island."

Zoro swallowed, quickly hooked an arm on his captain's neck, literally half-dragging-half-running-with-him away from the wicked witch. "You better not do something we'll make you regret later." Zoro half-heatedly threatened.

They barely dodged the paddle that embedded itself centimeters away from where they had been. "Just get the hell out of here." Nami screeched.

After half an hour of running, Zoro and Luffy stopped to catch their breath.

"If I didn't know better," Zoro muttered. "It must be that time of the month."**

Author's Note:

*gleeful note that they didn't know Luffy all that well back then, three days of provision is a few hours worth to their captain.

** I don't think Zoro really knows what "the time of the month really means", what with him only focusing on his training and such. I don't really think Kuina had hers yet, considering they were very young when she died and I really don't think she'll tell him all about it if she had survived long enough to have hers.

What he does know, based on the random conversations he heard/unintentionally-eavesdropped-on during his travels, is that women turn into demons once a month for some unfathomable reason. Luffy on the other hand, I believe to be perfectly innocent on the subject matter though he is vaguely aware that she was in pain.

I know Zoro has demon senses and can probably smell blood and such, but in this fic he didn't because they were literally surrounded by the ocean and I figured the salty scent would really mask the smell of blood.

Hi there! This is my first fic and I'm really worried if I gave any of them (and I'm not really sure if there are) any out-of-character-behavior. Your reviews would be greatly appreciated.

I have some other ideas about this bloody theme though I haven't really gotten enough free time to properly put it into concrete writing so who knows? this fic might turn into a one-shot series.

P.S.

This is , fan fiction. Of course I don't own One Piece.


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